Networks place bets on breakfast clubs' rewards

April 22, 2005|By Phil Rosenthal.

When your eyes are on the prize, there's sometimes a price you lose sight of.

ABC News no doubt is thrilled "Good Morning America" has so tightened the ratings gap with longstanding leader "Today" that NBC News this week deemed it necessary to ax the executive producer and install a pair of new managers for its once-dominant morning franchise.

FOR THE RECORD - This story contains corrected material, published April 23, 2005.

"GMA" co-hosts Charles Gibson and Diane Sawyer, more than six years after being named "temporary" replacements for forgettable Kevin Newman and Lisa McRee, finally are within a few hundred thousand viewers of Matt Lauer and Katie Couric (this sentence as published has been corrected in this text).

The only problem is their success greatly complicates the oh-so-delicate matter of lining up a potential successor to ailing anchor Peter Jennings on "World News Tonight."

Gibson and/or Sawyer would be obvious, solid choices to replace Jennings should his battle with lung cancer prove too taxing for him to return, but ABC may not be able to afford to give them serious consideration.

Literally.

There's simply too much money at stake in the morning to risk moving them when "GMA" has a real chance to overtake "Today."

Though some debate whether the nightly network newscasts still matter, there's no question the 5:30 p.m. headline jockeys remain the standard-bearers for their respective news operations. The select few assigned to those anchor chairs carry a huge symbolic weight that becomes very real in times of national crisis.

But the nightly newscasts don't contribute as much to the networks' bottom lines as the breakfast clubs.

NBC's "Today" rakes in around $500 million in revenue annually. Its $300 million profit is roughly equal to the profit generated by the rest of the network's programming in total, and its No. 1 status is estimated to be worth a premium of as much as $80 million, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Evening network newscasts, on the other hand, each bring in more than $100 million in revenues but The New York Times says the difference between first place and second translates to just about $20 million.

So it might not matter how good Gibson is (or Sawyer could be) as one of Jennings' fill-ins. Elizabeth Vargas, who's also subbing for Jennings, is suddenly a leading candidate.

And NBC is just desperate and lost: Of course, a big factor in the rise of "GMA" has nothing to do with Gibson and Sawyer; it is the rebirth of ABC in prime time. Thanks to hit rookie dramas "Desperate Housewives," "Grey's Anatomy" and "Lost" this season, it's no longer known as The Network Where You Might See Jim Belushi Shirtless.

More people are seeing those "GMA" promos nowadays, Jim Belushi or no.

Similarly, if NBC's prime-time schedule weren't having trouble, "Today" might be faring better. But "Joey," it turns out, is no "Friends." "The Apprentice" isn't "The Apprentice" anymore. And "The Contender" isn't anything at all.

Driven away: So "Today" executive producer Tom Touchet got the hatchet this week. "Today" enjoyed a 1.5 million-viewer lead over "Good Morning America" when he took over 2 1/2 years ago, but "GMA" is within 660,000 viewers on average so far this season. Earlier this month, the margin was reduced to a scant 350,000.

If Touchet had had Couric as an ally, perhaps he could have weathered the storm. It's believed he didn't. Touchet's predecessor, Jonathan Wald, supposedly had the same problem.

Incoming executive producer Jim Bell, a 15-year NBC sports vet, would be wise to send Katie some flowers or candy or something.

And maybe MSNBC vice president Phil Griffin, newly assigned to oversee "Today," should offer her a new car.

"Idol" banter: ABC's "PrimeTime Live" is working on an "American Idol" expose just in time for the May ratings period. Daily Variety reports the months-long ABC investigation "will take a hard look at the relationship between `Idol' judges and contestants" on the top-rated Fox talent show. An ABC News spokesman declined comment.

"Idol" judge/cheerleader Paula Abdul, meanwhile, is hoping to head off concerns about her erratic behavior on the show this season, telling People magazine she doesn't have a drug addiction but suffers from a rare neurological disorder.